7/10 (HOL): Hollywood Gold Cup & Triple Bend H. (G1's)

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

That was some ride by Bejarano.

I thought Richards Kid ran well.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

I thought Richards Kid ran well.

I thought they all ran like crap. Zenyatta would have won the race by 5. Instead she's in the barn.

[Scav]

I would love for Drugs to get all crunk on Formulator and look at Ron Ellis 3rd/4th/5th off the layoff. He is a great layoff trainer, but when they get into 'campaigns' they seem to tail off.....

That being said, he probably ran the best today being so wide.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by Scav

I would love for Drugs to get all crunk on Formulator and look at Ron Ellis 3rd/4th/5th off the layoff. He is a great layoff trainer, but when they get into 'campaigns' they seem to tail off.....
That being said, he probably ran the best today being so wide.

Considering the fact that he doesn't cheat, he's doing a great job. If it was a level field, his career would have been a lot different.

[miraja2]

The big thing this race pointed out to me is that the sport needs more Awesome Gems.

Some people say that having a horse win the Triple Crown would "save" or "help" horse racing. I say that's nonsense. All that would do is create a superstar horse. Well....the sport has a couple active "superstar" horses and their connections haven't done a damn thing with them in the last 8 months to make this a more interesting sport.

What the sport needs is a bunch of solid, graded-stakes caliber animals like Awesome Gem, where the connections ship all over, take on all comers and put together a career where the horse has faced Midnight Lute, Kip Deville, Curlin, Hard Spun, Global Hunter, Street Sense, Brother Derek, Zenyatta, Heatseeker, Rail Trip, etc.

He loses a lot more than he wins.....and that's okay. At least they aren't scared by shipping him, or by running on a surface or a distance that might not be his absolute best. Last year at this time he was running a game second to Global Hunter in a G1 turf race. Later in the year he bested 10 rivals to win a G2 dirt race. Yesterday he won a G1 race on synthetic. And to top it all off, yesterday was his 11th start in a little over 12 months! What a concept.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by miraja2

The big thing this race pointed out to me is that the sport needs more Awesome Gems.

Some people say that having a horse win the Triple Crown would "save" or "help" horse racing. I say that's nonsense. All that would do is create a superstar horse. Well....the sport has a couple active "superstar" horses and their connections haven't done a damn thing with them in the last 8 months to make this a more interesting sport.

What the sport needs is a bunch of solid, graded-stakes caliber animals like Awesome Gem, where the connections ship all over, take on all comers and put together a career where the horse has faced Midnight Lute, Kip Deville, Curlin, Hard Spun, Global Hunter, Street Sense, Brother Derek, Zenyatta, Heatseeker, Rail Trip, etc.

He loses a lot more than he wins.....and that's okay. At least they aren't scared by shipping him, or by running on a surface or a distance that might not be his absolute best. Last year at this time he was running a game second to Global Hunter in a G1 turf race. Later in the year he bested 10 rivals to win a G2 dirt race. Yesterday he won a G1 race on synthetic. And to top it all off, yesterday was his 11th start in a little over 12 months! What a concept.

I really like this horse. Unfortunately we only see this kind of campaigning with geldings. But you've got to love this horse -- he tries every time, is often in the money, and travels far and wide, racing on any surface. THIS is the horse, or kind of horse, that more people should be fans of.

[letswastemoney]

Originally Posted by OldDog

I really like this horse. Unfortunately we only see this kind of campaigning with geldings. But you've got to love this horse -- he tries every time, is often in the money, and travels far and wide, racing on any surface. THIS is the horse, or kind of horse, that more people should be fans of.

If I played him on top I'd be a fan

I was certain that either Rail Trip or Richard's Kid, both G1 winners on synthetics, could beat a horse with seconditis and that has never won a stakes on synthetics.

I was wrong.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Scav

I would love for Drugs to get all crunk on Formulator and look at Ron Ellis 3rd/4th/5th off the layoff. He is a great layoff trainer, but when they get into 'campaigns' they seem to tail off.....

That being said, he probably ran the best today being so wide.

Rail Trip ran 8 times between Nov 7 2008 until July 11 2009 with no more than a 45 day break between starts. He brought him back for the Pacific classic obviously fearing a bounce from the big Gold Cup performance last year and then put him away for the year.

These days, thats a pretty busy schedule for a horse especially one that has finished out of the exacta one time in his career and that was in a blanket finish where he lost by a length.

Criticism of Ellis is justified in that he might be a little conservative with some of these horses. At the same time, he is more than just a layoff trainer as you suggest.